Industry insider knowledge, and usage tips on spices and other ingredients

Monthly Archives: July 2015

This season in White Pepper has been full of ups and downs. Floods, farmers hoarding stocks, late crop, and all kinds of excitement that ordinarily wouldn’t make anyone bat an eyelid at. At the end of it all, it’s made us select a new favourite variety of white peppercorns. Last year, we used to favour our Indian Malabar White Peppercorns. Famed for their earthy, rich pepper flavour and aromas, these white peppercorns are extremely heavy and pack a strong heat. But we weren’t too happy with the colour after grinding. It isn’t too white (undoubtedly a result of the strong … keep reading

Tomato Salsa has an endless list of recipes, each different: different tomatoes, different levels of thickness, more spicy, more sweet, more sour… the list can carry on forever. Thanks to our huge pantry of spices, we’ve developed a recipe that we believe is truly unique and also tastes the bomb. The cajun seasoning is a complex blend of onions, chillies, salt, paprika, thyme, and other spices that pair extremely well with tomatoes and mexican cuisine. We’ve also mixed in a little bit of mint for a cool, summer flavour, plus more chilli powder as we love our food more spicy. … keep reading

Falafel is one of those snacks that everyone can enjoy. It’s savoury, exotic, works as an appetiser or a main course when put into a wrap. Falafels are deep fried balls that are traditionally eaten with middle eastern flat bread, salad, pickles, hot sauce and drizzled with tahini-based sauces like Hummus. Falafel are normally very simple foods, as well as popular amongst vegetarians because they’re made without any meat. It once got so popular that even McDonalds began serving a McFalafel. Our recipe includes Ras El Hanout and Zaatar, which elevates the dish beyond it’s humble roots, while keeping the … keep reading

Black Pepper is arguably one of the most popularly used spices – it’s just as widespread as salt, albeit much more expensive. As such, the pepper market is also extremely volatile, swings of 40% in one direction and reversing back later on in the same year are very common. Building on from our market update at the end of January when the new crop came in, here’s the next price update with black pepper from around asia. The price of pepper has continued to increase at all major producing countries: India, Vietnam, Malaysia. We are now nearing the end of … keep reading

Lychee is now in season and we accidentally bought too much at the market. Here’s a great refreshing party drink that you can make using fresh lychees and some light, sweet spices. You can add more or less of the sparkling / tonic water to suit your tastes. Our ratio keeps it sweet, but not sickly sweet. Some people may like their drink even more diluted than this. In case you don’t want to serve it all up immediately, freeze the lychee juice before adding in the sparkling water. You can mix in the tonic water and serve as needed … keep reading

We noticed that the US Dietary Guidelines this year seem to contradict decades of previous research with cholesterol, when they mentioned earlier this year that the effects of cholesterol in foods had little to no correlation with cholesterol increases and decreases in the blood of those eating the food. What went less noticed was that guidelines for total dietary fat have also been overturned! Not only that, but they are also strongly suggesting that fat consumption is not linked to obesity. Obesity consumption is greater due to eating sugars and salty food – probably in an attempt to avoid fat. … keep reading

Earlier last month we introduced Panch Phoran at Regency. It’s a gorgeous spice blend from Bengal, the region crossing at north-western India. The blend consists of a colourful blend of fragrant, spiced seeds: cumin, mustard, fennel, black cumin (nigella, kalonji), and fenugreek. Usually it’s used in cooking up tasty Indian curries, but we’ve found another use for it where it’s also delicious: roasted veggies. These fragrant seeds coat the potatoes and infuse all their flavour throughout the long & intense cooking heat in the oven. They soften up and also add an interesting texture when eating. We love roasted potatoes … keep reading

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About The Spice Trade

Our company's Spice Trade blog was started to provide more transparency to consumers about where their food ingredients and spices come from. We compile our decades of knowledge and condense it into sizeable chunks for our customers to read and learn from. Wherever possible, our information is backed up by scientific research, linked directly to from the posts. Please note that due to market fluctuation, certain recommendations and information may be out of date.